Skimmer Q&A Thread
- Thread starter mojo~
- Start date
Frobozz0249
New member
Seaside Aquatics CS1 not skimming much
Seaside Aquatics CS1 not skimming much
Hello, long-time reader and first time poster here. Lots of great information on skimmers. I have a fairly big hair algae problem in my tank, so decided I needed to add a quality protein skimmer.
I decided on a SSA CS1 on my 54g corner tank based on various reviews and positive comments by Mojo (and others). This brand new skimmer was installed 18 days ago in my 10g sump. Tank is about 2 years old and I wasn't running a skimmer prior to this. Light-Moderately stocked with 100lbs of live rock, three small fish, a handful of crabs and snails, and a coral banded shrimp. A few small polyp colonies, mushroom colonies, and a yellow fiji leather is my coral stock.
The skimmer is generating a fair amount of foam in the skimmer body but not much is getting into the collection cup. The other day I emptied about 1/8" of light brown skim with some small black solid particles. No smell whatsoever. This was about two days worth.
I'm not sure if this skimmer is working properly or if it's not broken in yet/not tuned properly. Skimmer is sitting in 10-10.25" inches of water and I have been running the wedge pipe wide open (MAX) but recently closed it down to the setting at "4" on the dial. Sump turnover is about 200gph.
I'd appreciate any comments on my setup and whether I should be expecting more/darker/stinkier skim than what I'm getting based on my tank? I'm pretty happy with the construction quality of the skimmer and pump, but it seems like I should be getting more skimmate by now.
Seaside Aquatics CS1 not skimming much
Hello, long-time reader and first time poster here. Lots of great information on skimmers. I have a fairly big hair algae problem in my tank, so decided I needed to add a quality protein skimmer.
I decided on a SSA CS1 on my 54g corner tank based on various reviews and positive comments by Mojo (and others). This brand new skimmer was installed 18 days ago in my 10g sump. Tank is about 2 years old and I wasn't running a skimmer prior to this. Light-Moderately stocked with 100lbs of live rock, three small fish, a handful of crabs and snails, and a coral banded shrimp. A few small polyp colonies, mushroom colonies, and a yellow fiji leather is my coral stock.
The skimmer is generating a fair amount of foam in the skimmer body but not much is getting into the collection cup. The other day I emptied about 1/8" of light brown skim with some small black solid particles. No smell whatsoever. This was about two days worth.
I'm not sure if this skimmer is working properly or if it's not broken in yet/not tuned properly. Skimmer is sitting in 10-10.25" inches of water and I have been running the wedge pipe wide open (MAX) but recently closed it down to the setting at "4" on the dial. Sump turnover is about 200gph.
I'd appreciate any comments on my setup and whether I should be expecting more/darker/stinkier skim than what I'm getting based on my tank? I'm pretty happy with the construction quality of the skimmer and pump, but it seems like I should be getting more skimmate by now.
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Hello Mojo and others
Looking at setting up a 50g mixed tank. I will run a 29g sump with about 20 usable gallons in it. The skimmer chamber will be 11x8 and the baffles will be 10" high. I was thinking about getting a bubble magus curve 5 because of the small footprint and it runs at the baffle depth. Do you have any suggestions on something that might be better or more appropriate? I Can adjust the sump as its not done but don't want to lose to much space to the skimmer. Thanks
Looking at setting up a 50g mixed tank. I will run a 29g sump with about 20 usable gallons in it. The skimmer chamber will be 11x8 and the baffles will be 10" high. I was thinking about getting a bubble magus curve 5 because of the small footprint and it runs at the baffle depth. Do you have any suggestions on something that might be better or more appropriate? I Can adjust the sump as its not done but don't want to lose to much space to the skimmer. Thanks
salttanknewbie
New member
I am in the procees of setting up a 150Gal mixed aquarium. can some one suggest if a Super Reef Octopus 2000 Internal Protein Skimmer (180 Gallons). is enough for my system? I will have a 33gal sum w/refugium in this system as well. the skimmer will be in the sump before the refugium stage.
get a reef octo 3000 instead. The 2000 will leave you with not enough export and problems.
the skimmer will get skimmate into the cup if set up properly... this means with the bubble column producing foam around or above the bottom of the skimmer cup. raise the water level so it does so. dry skimming where the skimmer produces foam below this is not what a skimmer is designed for and is a waste. Now, the skimmer should have very small bubbles up to the bottom of the cup... if large.. you need to lower the sump water level and close the output pipe more... pictures of the skimmer neck and cup would be great to assess this.
azjohnny
Active member
+1
azjohnny
Active member
sro 3000ext
azjohnny
Active member
When they rate a skimmer with an "up to" rating that is to be taken with a grain of salt. I usually expect half that so the 2000 would be good with a 100 tank. I feel that a skimmer needs to have a idle time, that it has caught up to the bioload. If the skimmer is producing skim mate 24/7 it is behind. The skimmer wont be producing dark skimmate but the water will be clean and that is the important thing
I do like my skimmate to be a little on the wet side, it gets out of the system a bit faster that way
Amen folks !!!
Frobozz0249
New member
Here are some pics of my skimmer and skimmer cup. This is about 24 hours of skimmate :thumbdown at 9.5" sump depth and the air valve set to "3". I've since adjusted it to 8.5" sump depth and air valve set to "2" which has the bubbles just below the skimmer cup where it meets the neck.
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azjohnny
Active member
the 1st pic doesnt look bad, maybe your tank just doesnt have the organics to skim out. Try over feeding your tank a bit and see how the skimmer behaves.
Are you running a filter sock? If you are it will be catching a lot of the organics before they get a chance to get to the skimmer
you have a pretty light bioload
Keep trying lowering the water level your skimmer is in, I had done that when I had my Euroreef 6-2 and made a huge difference. I had started with 9" and finally got it down to 6.5"
Also try to point the skimmer so the pump is pointing upstream so the organics have a better chance of getting to the pumps volute
Frobozz0249
New member
I don't have anything filtering the water before it gets to the skimmer. One thing I will note is that when I scrub my hair algae, the skimmer will fill up halfway with green sludge within 20-30 minutes so it definitely takes out stuff like that very quickly.
I'll trying running it with a lower water level in the sump, but I believe if I go below 8" the water level in the skimmer will be so low that the foam won't get to the cup. It's worth a shot though.
azjohnny
Active member
sounds like the skimmer is working well!
try lowering the water level and when the level in skimmer lowers raise the level in the skimmer
Your GHA could be because of phosphates, are you using GFO?
Frobozz0249
New member
Sorry, what is GFO? Obviously I'm not using it!
I spoke with the LFS today and they recommended I quit using flake/pellets and use frozen food instead because of phosphates in the dry stuff.
I use RO water and it tests zero/zero for Nitrate/Phosphate so I'm not sure how it's getting into the tank besides the food.
azjohnny
Active member
I would use RO/DI water and not just RO water, depending on what filter you use you could be allowing anywhere between 3-10% of the TDS to not be filtered out, it doesnt sound like much but with a reef tank it is huge
Phosphates can also be introduced by the live rock and sand, especially if you started your tank with dry rock, the BRS brand is known to leech a lot of phosphates
GFO is Granular Ferric Oxide and it binds with phosphates and like granular carbon it need to be changed out before it has absorbed its maxium or it will start leeching back to the tank, usually 1 month, unless you have a high amount of phosphates in the water than it could be as little as 2 days
The best way to use GFO is to use a reactor and this forces the water through the media, I used the Phosban reactor and I am very happy with the results
Phosban Reactor
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/phosban-reactor-150.html
I gave use the regular media and the high capacity, the high capacity is larger and has less dust , it is more expensive but I prefer it
reg size GFO
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-bulk-gfo-granular-ferric-oxide.html
HC size GFO
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-bulk-gfo-granular-ferric-oxide-high-capacity.html
Cmbtmedic1
New member
What does bump mean?
Frobozz0249
New member
I tried the skimmer overnight with the sump set at 7.5". In order to get the water level to where the foam is building at the bottom of the cup, I had to almost completely close the air valve. The SSA CS1 doesn't have a water output valve so the only way to regulate the water height in the skimmer is by closing down the air valve which brings in more water. There is only one pump which provides both the air and water mix controlled through a wedge pipe.
Anyway, this setting produced no skim overnight and hardly any foam in the neck. I don't think setting the sump level so low is going to work as the air level has to be almost completely shut down.
The manufacturer recommends a sump depth of 25-27cm which works out to 9.8" to 10.6". Today I set the sump depth to 9" and it's producing some foam, but mostly clear with just a hint of yellow. Seems like my DOCs have all been sucked up by the skimmer over the last few weeks although I never got more than 1/8" of medium brown in any 24 hour period. Much less than that now...:worried2:
As you noted my current bio load is pretty light, but I plan to add to soon with more fish and corals. Seems like I've reached the end of my experimenting and that this is all I'm going to get out of the skimmer with my current bio load. I should see the hair algae start to die off if the nutrients are being removed, but I suppose it could take some time as the nitrate and phosphate may still be in the system even with no DOCs:sad1:
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